Trials and tribulations? We need them! There's really no way to avoid some of these.
For me, I had to let go of the idea that I should be blessed and harmonious at all times. What I aim for now is balance in whatever emotional response I have to any situation. If I'm having some hardships and difficulties, then, the emotion is centered on the cause.
Gee... I'm finding this hard to explain. I found my center of balance; it's my core state, a combination of awareness, mindfulness, confidence, gratitude, basic goodwill toward others, and unconditional self love. Am I always centered? Absolutely not. But I know where my center is, and it might take some effort sometimes, but that's what I aim for whenever I'm feeling off-balance.
My emotional responses to any given situation are not what throw me off. If I'm suffering, I cry, I shout, I vent, I get pissed, angry, mad, and sad. That's the normal, natural response.
Ok backing up (and apologies for the length of this response)... If I carry something heavy in a bag that's slung over my shoulder, it throws my body temporarily off-balance. If I carry that bag every day for an extended period of time, it eventually screws up my back, and my whole body and every system in it are off-balance even when I put the bag down periodically. My sufferings and troubles was a lot like that heavy bag. When I felt bad about something it had a similar effect to adding another bag to that shoulder -- I felt bad in addition having sufferings. When something made me feel blessed, it had a similar effect to carrying a bag in the other hand; I felt blessed... on top of being cursed (for lack of better term). The trials skewed everything off to one side.
So I had to stop carrying all that stuff around, and it took a long time for me to empty the bag. Some things needed to be thrown out, and some things just needed to be put away in their proper places. As the 'bag' got lighter, it became easier to find my center, and I found that my center is neither happy and joyful nor sad and depressed; it's where I just am. My emotional state in any given moment, then, is a response to the moment and the situation at hand.
That's the ideal, and of course there are times when I find I've put some stuff back in my 'bag' and my emotional response is accordingly off-balance. But even from there, I can work my way back to my center. Sometimes it takes a while, but I know where it is and how to find my way back to it.
So being blessed, joyful and positive all the time is really like just having a different bag on the other shoulder. It would be ... imbalanced. I came here for the human experience; sometimes the experience is uncomfortable and horrible, and sometimes it's joyful. These allow me to build strength from both sides, and they keep me in the center of my path.
Does that make sense?
Oh and perhaps the motivation spell we're weaving will help you.
